Sombdi, day 8 of spring 548 - Ethereal storm hits town

Well, it's was a strange sight alright. There was an ethereal storm, a big one, and it opened ethereal portals across west Puddleby. These portals opened in a line that crossed from the docks to the NE corner of the beach area, just behind the north rat tower.

Your ethereal amulet indicates an ethereal storm has opened an ethereal portal.

Of course it was scary, with large number of strong ethereal creatures invading waves after waves. There were Ethereal Stalkers, Ethereal Clouds, Ethereal Slugs, Ethereal Walkers, and also Ghastly Presences. There were also creature on the ocean, although I didn't go out there to check. People fell into portals as they opened unexpectedly. I once counted 7 portals opening in just a few seconds.

It was all very strange. First, the ether flow was normal, I couldn't sense any turbulence or current, except when a portal opened of course. When I examined the various portals, I couldn't see anything special about them, they were like any other EP portals that a EP Portal Stone would produce.

Your amulet vibrates as it examines the portal.Ether activity on the far side of the portal appears normal.

As the portals faded, they left a trail of ashes behind them leading back to the docks. I don't understand what would cause an ethereal storm, but I find the apparition of portals, and their concerted move across the beach toward the NE corner, even more strange. I wonder if they were following a fault line in the plane boundaries, or perhaps they were pushed by some kind of ethereal wind, although I couldn't detect any.

Another strange occurrence is that one of the portals apparently dropped an Ethereal Portal Stone.

Kyozetsu picks up an ethereal portal stone.

And then of course there was the time everyone around a portal fell to, ..., well, ..., an ethereal expulsion? Laiy told me that her amulet broke at the same time, but mine did not. Maybe it's because she was closer to the portal than I was, or maybe she happened to be taking a reading at the same time.

One thing that was sure, it's that we didn't know what to do about those portals. It was one of those "nature is stronger than us" feeling. I sure would have liked to understand what was happening better though. As with more conventional storms, all we could do was try to hang on and hope for the best, chaining fallen and healing them, trying to push back the waves of deadly creatures.

After the fallen on the ocean were rescued, an EP rescue was attempted. People formed a line and entered one of the portals. I joined them so that I could quickly identify which snell we would end up in and tell everyone which way was the EP Tower. We ended up in the Opal sector and I quickly yelled to go north for the EP Tower.

It was a bold effort, and it could have succeeded with a little chance on our side. I think the group had the strength to tackle that rescue but lacked the tactical knowledge, or experience, with how to handle EP. It takes practice to handle that place, mobs don't do well in there. While I was fallen I sensed something interesting though.

Your ethereal amulet indicates Kyozetsu has opened an ethereal portal.

All in all it was an interesting experience because I learned a few things about my ethereal training, and I got to observe a strange ethereal occurrence from up close. There is certainly a lot of things to ponder regarding these events. I thought about building a kuyem at one time, in the hopes it might quench the ethereal storm, but I preferred not to risk causing more damage. Perhaps I'll know what to do in cases like this with more ethereal training, but I suspect there isn't much that can be done.

And during all that excitement, there are two news that made me happy and that may have gone unnoticed because of the Ethereal Storm. I am very happy for both of them since they're both great people :-)

Honor thinks, "Congratulations go out to Viola, who has just passed the fourth circle fighter test."

Glory thinks, "Congratulations go out to Mango, who has just passed the fourth circle healer test."